Who's behind false drug-injection site phone calls in Redmond?

Updated 12:12 pm, Thursday, August 31, 2017

A man reacts after injecting himself with morphine with a clean needle provided by Insite on West Hastings Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010.

A man reacts after injecting himself with morphine with a clean needle provided by Insite on West Hastings Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010.

Photo: Jae C. Hong/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Richard Chenery injects heroin he bought on the street at the Insite safe injection clinic in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday May 11, 2011.

Richard Chenery injects heroin he bought on the street at the Insite safe injection clinic in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday May 11, 2011.

Photo: DARRYL DYCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Richard Chenery draws heroin he bought on the street into a syringe at the Insite safe injection clinic in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday May 11, 2011.

Richard Chenery draws heroin he bought on the street into a syringe at the Insite safe injection clinic in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday May 11, 2011.

Photo: DARRYL DYCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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A client of the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, prepares a dose of drug to inject on May 3, 2011.

A client of the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, prepares a dose of drug to inject on May 3, 2011.

Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

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A client of the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, injects himself on May 3, 2011.

A client of the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, injects himself on May 3, 2011.

Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

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A worker at the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, arranges syringes to be used by addicts on May 3, 2011.

A worker at the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, arranges syringes to be used by addicts on May 3, 2011.

Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

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Clients inject themselves at the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, on May 3, 2011.

Clients inject themselves at the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, on May 3, 2011.

Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

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A client of the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, collects her kit on May 3, 2011.

A client of the Insite supervised injection Center in Vancouver, Canada, collects her kit on May 3, 2011.

Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Who's behind false drug-injection site phone calls in Redmond?

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The city of Redmond is advising residents to disregard a phone call warning them a drug-injection site is coming to town.

On Wednesday, the city issued a press release warning of a telephone poll that included "false statements" about a possible safe-injection site, where users can consume heroin and other drugs without fear of arrest, opening up in Redmond.

"The city is not considering allowing a safe-injection site in Redmond, as the poll alleges," the release read in part. "Please be aware the poll is not sponsored by the City of Redmond. We appreciate residents alerting the city to this matter and relaying the information to us."

City officials don't know who is behind the calls, which have been reported to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC). But since the calls don't seem to mention a specific political campaign, finding out who is responsible them might not be so simple.

"Given what little we know about the call, which is very little, it may not even be political advertising and therefore not something that we would be concerned with," PDC spokesperson Kim Bradford told SeattlePI. "We would only get involved if there was something in that call that supported or opposed a candidate or a campaign, and it's not clear to us, based on what little we know, that that is the case."

One of the CHELs is being planned for Seattle, with another planned for somewhere else in King County. The two would be the first legal safe-injection sites in the country. The only legal safe-injection site in North America is in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Opponents of the facilities argue they do little to discourage drug use and object to the idea of hosting them in their communities.

Supporters of Initiative 27, which would ban safe-injection sites in King County, delivered a petition with enough signatures to be put to a vote, but delivered it to the county clerk too late to get the measure on the November ballot.

The issue will likely be voted on in a special election in February, though a lawsuit filed last week by an organization called Protect Public Health argues that public health policy is not subject to an up or down vote by citizen initiative.

Backers of I-27 worry the county may fast-track a site before the public can weigh in, despite assurances to the contrary from county officials. I-27 spokesperson Keith Schipper said the campaign wasn't behind the Redmond calls.

Several King County cities, including Bellevue, Federal Way, Auburn, Renton and Kent, have recently passed resolutions banning the sites.